Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Did you know that the number of fake coins in circulation has doubled in recent years? I didn't! So just as we are trying to out smart the counterfeit guys on the Paper Money front we now have to be aware that our coins are under attack.

This is the problem with greed, forging £5, £10, £20, notes is not working out so £1 coins are now under attack. Nothing is too small for these guys so watch out. Regardless of what we think it is big money for the bad guys.,up to £2 million a year! That's huge!

So what's the consequences of forging coins, it's criminal and carries a 10 year sentence, worse still not only forging coins but using them is illegal in Britain, so what out and be careful what coins you collect as change.

How can you tell that a coin is fake? One tell tale sign is when your coin wont work in a vending machine, this has happened to me a couple of times, another sign is when the inscription on the edge of the coin is not distinct or lettering type is wrong. Another thing is if the head of the Queen and the reverse image are aligned differently.s

I am really concerned about this trend as there is no protection against this kind of deceit. How many of your coins in your wallet right now are the real thing? I am now more concerned about coins than I am of paper money.

Thursday, 18 September 2008

I went to the bank today, Halifax (HBOS), only to find it virtually empty with new paper money being the only bank notes available in these very hard times of a credit crunch. So now I have crispy uncirculated £10 and £20 notes to add to my collection. But at what price?

Didn't we see this coming? Bad debts have piled up for years, and bad credits for decades so we now stand at a point where uncertainty in the financial market is about to take over our econmic lives as we once knew it.

Is your bank going to go under? My simple advice is this, diversify now! Don't keep all your money in one account. Find out the maximum amount that the government will cover each banks account for and keep only that amount in each account.

I like the new notes keep the ones you need to and lets pray that the powers that be will take whatever steps to nip this thing from spreading any further. This is wishful thinking, as action really should have been taken a long while before.

The town of Lewes with their newly launched Lewes Pound has taken their financial destiny in their hands and it might be working! For the rest of us we can only hope that the credit crunch wont drowm our banknotes any further!

Monday, 15 September 2008

I was pleasantly suprised that Lewes, a town in Britain had just released the latest paper money banknote. 10, 000 notes were printed and are nearly sold our already. Maybe sold out is a wrong way to put it as these notes are not meant for collector's albums, instead they are supposed to remain in circulation and spent in and around the town of Lewes.

Copyright of TheLewesPound.Org

So why is this proud English town resorting to releasing a new paper note? The have many reasons but I like the one about it's their answer to the present global credit crunch. They have definitely taken their financial matters seriously and into their own hands.

Personally I would like to add this to my collection, but wont at the moment as this is not what the Lewes Pound was printed for. I will wait until much later when things have settled and they have released another batch of these beautiful green notes into circulation.

Wont to find out more about the Lewes Pound? Go to this Paper Money site and read all about it.

Thursday, 4 September 2008

It's been a long break from collecting paper money and blogging about it, and I'm glad to be back once more. After the month away I'm looking to bring some fresh eyes into how this blog is structured and presented. Thank you everyone for coming back and reading the blog while I was down and out (figuratively speaking that is). I hope that the information I've gathered over the past year has been useful to you and I'm looking forward to revealing more of what I'm learning as the months go by.

So how are we all doing with the Credit Crunch and the all important American Race for the White House? Luckily this is not a political journal or else I would have been boring you with my views about this particular election, being that I am both black and a woman. You never know, my views might make pretty interesting reading for some!

Anyway back to our favorite topic, how is your collection going? Mine hasn't progressed in the last month but I'm hoping to move it on as the days go by.

I found this site, apparently its been around for a while, its got a new look and I think if you are looking for some coins or currency for your collection or gifts for a friend or child, you may find something interesting here and most of the items are under a dollar. Check-out this Coin and Paper Money Auction Site and you'll see what I mean.